


Redeeming the Enemy

by SonjaJade



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 08:09:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10433232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: Scar watches as Mustang teeters on the edge of madness, and is genuinely surprised at how the blonde woman that's always with him handles the situation.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Riza said it all wrong originally- I’m fixing what the author broke. She originally says, "I can tell you have no intention of carrying on by myself. Once this is all over, I'm gong to end my life, and remove the secrets of flame alchemy from this world." I feel that is too melodramatic and wouldn't have meant anything to Roy.

The Ishvalan watched the scene unfold and knew Ed had acted righteously.  He was right to rob the madman before him of the chance to kill the tiny monster the alchemist held in his metal hand.  When a life is taken out of vengeance, it doesn’t soothe the pain inside any more than crying or screaming does.  If anything, it makes it worse.  Edward was being a good friend and a savior to the colonel- even if he didn’t agree with his taking the thing hostage at the moment.  
  
What he didn’t understand though, was why the woman who was perpetually at Mustang’s side had her revolver trained on his skull.  
  
“Are you becoming a beast?  Giving into its passion?  You can if you want to,” Scar said as he crossed his arms.  “I won’t stop you from giving into revenge.  What right do I have to stop someone from taking vengeance?”  Ed didn’t like his answer, but he didn’t care.  “But still, I shudder to think what kind of world a man held captive by his own hate would create once he becomes its ruler!”  
  
Finally, his subordinate seemed as if she were making a last plea to him.  Telling him she wouldn’t let him dirty his hands with the killing of the thing that had murdered his best friend.  She warned him he was about to do something irrevocable and reckless, and she begged him not to give into the seething anger and hatred that threatened to engulf him like the flames he wielded.  
  
“I know you’re better than that!” she whimpered.  
  
“If you’re going to shoot me, shoot me.  But then, after you’ve done that Lieutenant, what will you do?” he growled at her.  
  
Scar watched as her face wrenched up with emotion.  Tears began to spill from her eyes silently and her hand- the one aiming so accurately at Mustang’s head- trembled.  She took a shuddering breath and sobbed.  “I already told you, Roy…”  
  
He was certain Ed saw it too, the flash of surprise on his face at her addressing him so informally.  With her, even as short a time as he’d known her, she was always professional and dutiful and never anything short of perfect.  She was Mustang’s nursemaid it seemed, perhaps maybe his conscience, but she was never weak.  Yet here she stood, imploring her commanding officer to stand down, to let her dirty her hands with the monster’s death.  
  
She took a deep breath and began again, less choked with emotion than when she first spoke.  “I already told you.  I’ll follow you into hell, sir.  This bullet will take you from this world, and the next one will usher me along behind you.  Where you go, I go.  I promised you that long ago, and I meant it.”  
  
Now Mustang trembled too.  His hand stood poised to snap and crackling with alchemic energy, and he threw the flames down a different tunnel to his right with a roar, then buried his face in his hands.   
  
“That can’t happen,” he said in a tired, sad voice.  He turned toward her.  “I can’t afford to lose you too, Riza.”  He moved toward her, his hand covering hers and his finger coming to rest between the hammer and the firing pin of the revolver.  She lowered her hand at last, only when he wrapped his arms around her and apologized, crying into the side of her neck.  
  
Scar looked down at Edward, reaching for the little green worm in his metal hand.  “I’ll do it.”  
  
“No, I’ll do it,” he said quietly.  
  
Scar shook his head.  “Your hands are clean, Edward.  I’ve murdered many, one more won’t hurt.  But if you kill him, you won’t be innocent any longer.  I’ll do it.”  He reached down and snatched Envy from the young man’s hand as the little beast screamed and squealed and bit him.  Scar paid him no mind, even through the vicious teeth digging into his flesh, and transmuted his body from the inside out.  The worm imploded on itself and turned to dust moments later.  
  
He and Edward gazed at the two soldiers, embracing each other with tears in their eyes and soft words on their lips.   
  
“I wasn’t aware they were _that_ close,” Ed murmured.  
  
“Me either,” Scar replied.  Then he spoke up. “We better get moving.  We still have to find Father.”  
  
There was sniffling and two adults wiping their eyes and noses on their dirty sleeves, and then the two relieved lovers joined hands and got back to work.  
  
“Yes,” Mustang replied.  “We’ve got a country to save.”  
  
 _‘Now that we’ve saved your soul, maybe you can do just that,_ Scar thought to himself.


End file.
